Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Today we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. But it is not only his resurrection we celebrate; we celebrate ours too, because every repentant and baptized believer died with Christ on Good Friday and rose with him on Easter Sunday. We rose to new life. We rose to eternal life. We rose to a life of numerous blessings that Jesus secured for us by his triumph over the cross. I wrote about these things that he obtained for us in a song a few years ago called the Blessed Lamb of God. Translated into numerous languages, and sung by various people at various times, the latest rendition has been by my team of young friends from Dubai who call themselves Ablaze. Listen to this as a slightly different Easter homily. https://youtu.be/FFbejaCC7gY
